Yeah, Shepard name was posted in the Normandy mural... so what? It's not the first time he is declared dead.
Plus, his crew NEVER went back to check what happened with the citadel, they left the sol dead assuming that Shepard had died, landed on the planet and added him the the memorial, no one ever confirmed that we know of...

I'll also say again, it's ridiculous that Bioware made the TOP EMS reward, with supposedly it's to allow us to unlock you BETTER endings, a scene that already shows up in every bloody ending in the game...

His name doesn't actually go up on the wall in that ending either. They have the plaque, but your LI just holds it and then it cuts to the Normandy taking off and then to Shepard taking in a breath. Saying that's a death scene is just kind of contrarian. Like you said, why would the reward for sinking a lot of extra time into the game be the same as something that you get by not sinking extra time?

I'm fairly confident that the High EMS Destroy will be the canon ending. That's the only option that keeps the door open for a Mass Effect world with Shepard alive in it, even if s/he's an NPC or something. The other two endings really box them in from a narrative standpoint. In Control, Shepard is essentially a benevolent (?) god. In Synthesis, all life is connected in perfect harmony or whatever. Plus, in both scenarios, the Reapers are friendly, meaning that any kind of threat would have to be so massive that the Reapers couldn't just zap it. Even if they some how take the Reapers out of the picture, in Control and Synthesis, the galaxy just got a billion year tech jump from having direct access to Reaper tech.

His name doesn't actually go up on the wall in that ending either. They have the plaque, but your LI just holds it and then it cuts to the Normandy taking off and then to Shepard taking in a breath. Saying that's a death scene is just kind of contrarian. Like you said, why would the reward for sinking a lot of extra time into the game be the same as something that you get by not sinking extra time?

I'm fairly confident that the High EMS Destroy will be the canon ending. That's the only option that keeps the door open for a Mass Effect world with Shepard alive in it, even if s/he's an NPC or something. The other two endings really box them in from a narrative standpoint. In Control, Shepard is essentially a benevolent (?) god. In Synthesis, all life is connected in perfect harmony or whatever. Plus, in both scenarios, the Reapers are friendly, meaning that any kind of threat would have to be so massive that the Reapers couldn't just zap it. Even if they some how take the Reapers out of the picture, in Control and Synthesis, the galaxy just got a billion year tech jump from having direct access to Reaper tech.

But this assumes they'll go forward with ME4. ME4 very well could occur before or at the same time as ME1/2/3

They ask me why I'm bringin' - A baby into battle - That's really irresponsible - And getting them rattled
I say "give me a break - Get off of my back damn, it" - I didn't learn parenting - My daddy was a planet

The Normandy uses a Quantum Entangled communicator. The only way their communications would be completely off would be if those other devices were also destroyed. Its the way Quantum Entanglement works. Shepard can't live if the destroy ending is real. Even the catalyst states as much. Nothing about the destroy ending changes if Shepard is dead because nothing about the destroy ending revolves around Shepard living.

It is open to interpretation as you say, so why are you only interpreting it as Shepard lives and nothing else?

Because without Shepard living there is no reason to pick Red. It's pointless. Let's kill our Geth and AI friends for no reason, when there other options available and also leave the galaxy in ruins and Shepards dead no matter what! When we can pick green or blue and have a utopia pretty much. So red has become the fuck everything ending now with absolutely no plus's next to the fact the Reapers aren't turning people to goo anymore. If Shepard is alive then there's actually a reason to pick the damn ending.

Also when the ship crashed, without the engines running I doubt they had the power to use the quantum entanglement device or barely had any power at all.

If it was Shepards final breathe they would not have shown him breathing in. It is totally illogical. They would of showed him exhaling then silence, and we could of got out nice little death scene. But they didn't do that they choose to specifically show him breathing in. So i think he's alive. That's my interpretation of it, you obviously have a different one.

Sorry bout the late post. This thread is active when I'm sleeping lol.

Last edited by Duncanîdaho; 2012-06-30 at 07:56 PM.

The generalist looks outward; he looks for living principles, knowing full well that such principles change, that they develop. It is to the characteristics of change itself that the mentat-generalist must look. There can be no permanent catalogue of such change, no handbook or manual. You must look at it with as few preconceptions as possible, asking yourself, "Now what is this thing doing?"-Children of Dune

Because without Shepard living there is no reason to pick Red. It's pointless. Let's kill our Geth and AI friends for no reason, when there other options available and also leave the galaxy in ruins and Shepards dead no matter what! When we can pick green or blue and have a utopia pretty much. So red has become the fuck everything ending now with absolutely no plus's next to the fact the Reapers aren't turning people to goo anymore. If Shepard is alive then there's actually a reason to pick the damn ending.

Also when the ship crashed, without the engines running I doubt they had the power to use the quantum entanglement device or barely had any power at all.

If it was Shepards final breathe they would not have shown him breathing in. It is totally illogical. They would of showed him exhaling then silence, and we could of got out nice little death scene. But they didn't do that they choose to specifically show him breathing in. So i think he's alive. That's my interpretation of it, you obviously have a different one.

Sorry bout the late post. This thread is active when I'm sleeping lol.

You have to keep in mind that if the indoctrination thing is true, then the red ending where Shepard survives places him back before any real decision was made (the "destroy all synthetic life" thing only happened in his mind). In reality the red option (or only option) would destroy ONLY the Reapers like they originally planned and leave the Geth/AI/his friends still very much alive.

That's the reason most people want to believe the indoctrination thing is true. It gives you the possibility for an actual good ending (which currently doesn't really exist).

Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut represents the definitive version of the endings to the Mass Effect trilogy, and the final resolution of Commander Shepard’s journey. We have no plans to release further content related to the endings

But this assumes they'll go forward with ME4. ME4 very well could occur before or at the same time as ME1/2/3

I guess I'm working under the assumption that another Mass Effect game would follow the usual Bioware format of discover small problem/find real problem/gather team/defeat real problem. If that isn't the case, they could do all kinds of small stories. But, if they want to do something big, they need to either go forward or go waaaay back.

The only way I can see the series going "forward" is with Destroy. There are no threats in the Control and Synthesis universe.

They do have tons of room to go backwards and parallel though. The First Contact Wars would be an easy story to tackle. If they wanted they could even do the Prothean cycle (or any cycle). Or an MMO (I hope not)

The only possible way I can envision the series moving forward with all the endings is if the Reapers were directly or indirectly keeping some threat from outside the galaxy at bay. I don't like this storyline though, its pretty cliche.